The present invention relates to electronic price label (EPL) systems, and more specifically to a method of sending messages to an EPL.
EPL systems typically include a plurality of EPLs for each merchandise item in a store. EPLs include displays which display the price of corresponding merchandise items on store shelves and are typically attached to a rail along the leading edge of the shelves. EPL systems typically obtain their prices from the POS server's PLU file. A store may contain thousands of EPLs to display the prices of the merchandise items. The EPLs are coupled to a central server from where information about the EPLs is typically maintained in an EPL data file. The EPL data file contains EPL identification information, and EPL merchandise item information.
Data to be displayed by an EPL is stored within a memory within the EPL. The data typically includes segments associated with characters to be displayed.
Unfortunately, segment data is difficult and time-consuming to work with. For each character to be displayed by an EPL, an EPL computer must consult a reference table in order to determine the segments that must be used to form the character. The EPL computer must not only transmit the segment data to the EPL, but also instructions telling the EPL how to use the segment data to create characters for display. This process requires the EPL computer to send multiple messages to the EPL, which negatively impacts system bandwidth, system speed, and system reliability.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method of sending messages to an EPL which requires fewer messages.